When Lisa Richardson-Hall and Devvan Dowdy met as college roommates at Virginia State University some years ago, neither of them knew at the time that they would become business partners of their co-founded and co-owned company, Eventfully Yours.
Lisa recently agreed to be interviewed by LifelineExtensions.blog to share down-to-earth, honest, and practical tips about starting a business that allows someone the flexibility to work from home.
LifelineExtensions: Lisa, thanks for fitting this interview into your extremely busy schedule. Talk a little bit about who you are – your background, education, and any previous work experience.
Lisa: I grew up in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the youngest of six children. Up until 10th grade I attended public school, but around that time I started to lose some of my focus. My father picked up on this immediately and called one of my brothers, who was attending Yale University at the time, to tell my brother he was bringing me to Connecticut to live with him so I could finish high school there.
I still tease my dad about “yanking me away from my friends and shipping me up to Connecticut!” But, in all seriousness, I believe that’s what saved me. I attended an all-girl Catholic school there, and was accepted into Virginia State University.
Initially, my major was Education. But, I started to notice all of the great internships students majoring in Hotel Management were taking advantage of. I was really impressed by the internships and by the work being done by the Hotel Management students, so I changed majors.
My first internship was at Harrah’s in Atlantic City where I lived for the entire summer. Then, the next summer I interned at The Marriott in New York City, which is where I lived during that summer. The following school year I was accepted into the Disney Program internship for an entire semester!
After college graduation, Disney invited me back for their Management Trainee Program. So, I lived in Orlando, Florida for three years until I got the call from New Jersey to say that my mother had passed away. I knew then that I wanted to be back in New Jersey close to my father and the rest of my family.
Back in Jersey an opportunity became available to be part of a team to open a Hotel & Conference Center in Basking Ridge, where I managed the front office for about nine years. That’s where I met my husband, Rob. One year after we got married we had our first child, and it was at that point we decided I would become a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom).
LifelineExtensions: Was this when you decided to start a business?
Lisa: Believe it or not, it was a little while before then. I remember so vividly planning my wedding along with my best friend and former college roommate, Devvan Dowdy. We enjoyed the experience of planning the wedding so much that we started talking about possibly starting a business together so we could plan events all the time. That’s when
Eventfully Yours was birthed, which we formed as a Partnership.
Our first event was a Mother’s Day Brunch at The Armory in Perth Amboy. It was so successful that people immediately started asking us to plan events for them. One of our next events was a Sweet 16 Party. By then, word-of-mouth had really started to drum up business for Eventfully Yours.
LifelineExtensions: How did you come up with the name Eventfully Yours?
Lisa: We wanted a name that was different and creative. Something that would shout out the message that we wouldn’t be simple party throwers, but we would instead develop your party idea into the creation of an EVENT!
LifelineExtensions: Word-of-mouth promotions can certainly work to a business owner’s advantage, but tell us a little bit about who your customers are. Also, how do you determine what kind of fee structure to use with your diverse client-base?
Lisa: Our customer-base is developing a pretty diverse mix. Teenagers have been some of our most dedicated customers, with us coordinating a lot of their Sweet 16 parties. As a result of just one party, we can easily have either that same parent book us for parties of other children in the family; or the friends of the person hosting the original party enjoy themselves so much that sometimes they ask us right on the spot if they can call us to book a similar party for them at a later date.
We’ve also catered to Baby Boomers who are planning Retirement Roasts, birthday parties, and other celebrations coordinated. Not too long ago, we did an event for the Department of Health and some other events for local politicians and corporate executives. We’ve got two big corporate events coming up that we’re really excited about.
Regarding our fee structure, we generally have contracts where Eventfully Yours earns 20% to 25% of the budget for the event. With our smaller-scale customers there is sometimes a flat fee, which really seems to work well for these clients. The important thing for us is to build a strong level of trust in this area so that our customers will not only be satisfied with the event and all the trimmings. We want them satisfied and comfortable with the financial component, as well.
LifelineExtensions: Have you ever had to deal with challenging customers, and if so, how have you handled them?
Lisa: Funny you should ask! Not too long ago we did have a situation where the customer expressed complete dissatisfaction about a part of the event coordination. Thankfully, having a background in hotel management provides you with the kind of skills you need to deal with customer complaints; which happen every day in the hotel industry.
During training and coaching sessions there’s a lot of role-playing and practice in turning potentially explosive situations around so that the customer knows you want the best for him or her, and eventually walks away feeling attended to and satisfied. With the situation I mentioned I allowed my hotel management background to take over, and fortunately everything worked out for the best.
LifelineExtensions: Were there any other hurdles to date that Eventfully Yours has had to jump over?
Lisa: Yes. One huge hurdle was during our start-up phase, which is why I recommend to everyone starting a business to become very knowledgeable about both the creative AND the business side of your company. We think we may have been so excited about the business and the experiences of coordinating events that we didn’t keep complete records, and one huge mistake we made was not having our taxes done professionally by a certified public accountant.
We actually lost our incorporation because we didn’t file our taxes properly. Thankfully, we’ve been able to recover and learn from our initial mistakes; but we hope others take the advice of hiring professionals to take care of the business side so you can focus on the creative side.
Devvan now focuses on pulling all of the creative pieces together for the events we coordinate, and I focus on securing events and working with the professionals we now have taking care of the records on a computerized system so we can gain access to them if and when we need to.
LifelineExtensions: I guess what I’m about to ask about would be a good problem, but has there been any event so far that Eventfully Yours has been asked to coordinate that would honestly have been a little too big for the company to successfully pull off at your current operational size?
Lisa: I’m glad you asked that because this is an important thing for anyone wanting to start a business to know. After we’d coordinated one of the events we did for a local politician we started to get a lot of positive feedback. Eventually, that feedback became an invitation for us to interview to be selected to coordinate a really big political function. We were so honored to have been invited to interview.
But, right after the interview we just knew we weren’t in the position to coordinate that event to the same high caliber we require of ourselves when planning all of our events.
We weren’t selected, but again; the interview process was good for us. That process served to motivate the two of us to really be “hungry” to grow our business so that we can operate like a corporation instead of like a successful and respected “Ma & Pa” business. We sat down at that point and did a lot of reflection about our start-up, current operational status, and a market plan for where we’d like to go as the business continues to grow in both size and reputation.
We weren’t selected, but again; the interview process was good for us. That process served to motivate the two of us to really be “hungry” to grow our business so that we can operate like a corporation instead of like a successful and respected “Ma & Pa” business. We sat down at that point and did a lot of reflection about our start-up, current operational status, and a market plan for where we’d like to go as the business continues to grow in both size and reputation.
LifelineExtensions: Now, you’d mentioned word-of-mouth promotions having helped grow the business since its start-up. Have you included any other marketing campaigns, especially in this economic landscape we’re now confronted with?
Lisa: We hadn’t, but we’ve started several enhancements to how we market and promote Eventfully Yours. The word-of-mouth marketing tool was helpful for both of us because we are both SAHMs, and we were pleased with the fact that we’d been successful in having the business provide sustainable income for both of us.
However, when Devvan and I sat down to talk about our need for a more improved marketing plan after the interview I’d mentioned earlier; we decided then that we definitely need to have a website up and running so that past, current, and potential clients can visit the site to find out about the business, and make reservations for us to coordinate events for them.
We’re also developing an advertising element to our marketing campaign so that the name Eventfully Yours becomes the first name people think of when they want to hire event coordinators.
Let’s face it, competition exists. But, among some of the local competition you have larger businesses that have been in business longer; so Eventfully Yours is realistic about HOW we compete against these competitors.
LifelineExtensions: So then, what in addition to the marketing you’ve already done successfully, and your new campaign, makes Eventfully Yours stand out; especially to your higher paying C-level customers?
Lisa: We believe the fact that we treat every event as if it were our own has led our customers to experience great satisfaction with our service. Literally anyone can throw a party. But, Eventfully Yours doesn’t throw parties. We coordinate events regardless of the size of the event. So, we’re pitching to more of those C-level customers you’ve mentioned so that even more of them are included in our business portfolio.
LifelineExtensions: And, along with an increased customer portfolio comes the need for increased manpower. How have you factored that in?
Lisa: You’re absolutely right. So, we’ve developed a team of 10 to 15 people who work with us when we coordinate larger events. We wanted to provide opportunities for college students to gain work experience while they are still students, like we both did; so we began recruiting talent.
LifelineExtensions: It’s always great when businesses make these opportunities available to students. With such a strong background in hotel management and people relations, Eventfully Yours is probably looking for students with that certain je ne se qua – that almost unexplainable “right stuff and natural presence.” Talk about what that looks like in terms of any student fortunate enough to be part of your team.
Lisa: Personality that shines through immediately is a must! We want young people who are stars in their own right! Of course, we provide extensive and intense training and coaching prior to any event, but we need team players who have the mindset and attitude that always puts the customer’s needs first.
And, definitely individuals who are always alert and “on.” Being in the event coordination business requires excellent listening and speaking skills because you’re constantly engaging and interacting with customers and their guests. You have to be able to read the pulse of the crowd to know right away if there’s anything you or any other member of the team should or should not be doing.
This also means that everyone on the team has to be keenly aware of what’s going on with other team members. If you prefer the life of the “free agent” this may not be the business for you to consider pursuing.
LifelineExtensions: Great advice, Lisa. What advice can you give to both college and high school students regarding courses they should take to help prepare them to develop the needed skills?
Lisa: Definitely courses focused on tapping into your own personal creativity. After that, classes that actually teach the mechanics of event planning and focus on helping the students develop image presentations that will help make them stand out from their peers and their competitors.
Business classes on how to operate a successful business and effectively manage projects are critical. It’s also important to take classes on budgeting and managing finances. And, then public speaking, communications, marketing, and group dynamics’ courses will provide excellent theory and hands-on practice. Of course, Devvan and I can’t say enough about taking advantage of internships and opportunities to volunteer as a great way to learn and practice needed skills under the leadership of practicing professionals in the industry.
LifelineExtensions: Great advice, Lisa. What advice can you give to both college and high school students regarding courses they should take to help prepare them to develop the needed skills?
Lisa: Definitely courses focused on tapping into your own personal creativity. After that, classes that actually teach the mechanics of event planning and focus on helping the students develop image presentations that will help make them stand out from their peers and their competitors.
Business classes on how to operate a successful business and effectively manage projects are critical. It’s also important to take classes on budgeting and managing finances. And, then public speaking, communications, marketing, and group dynamics’ courses will provide excellent theory and hands-on practice. Of course, Devvan and I can’t say enough about taking advantage of internships and opportunities to volunteer as a great way to learn and practice needed skills under the leadership of practicing professionals in the industry.
LifelineExtensions: Lisa, do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share with our readers on behalf of Eventfully Yours?
Lisa: First, thanks for making this interview so much fun!
Next, as final thoughts I would say it is absolutely awesome to have a business that affords you the opportunity to be both a successful business owner and a successful SAHM. Seven years later Devvan and I can still say we feel so blessed by the way things are progressing with the business...
For anyone out there aspiring to start a business, please know that YOU CAN DO IT.
There is so much opportunity out there nowadays in so many different industries, so avoid limiting yourself by trying to fit in just one single specialty box. Don’t be afraid to expand your thinking by considering the things you’re good at and things you’re passionate about.
Those elements along with the dedication and time you’ll invest in staying updated and current with industry trends will serve you well. It will also help you continue developing both your creative skills and your business skills while you work toward building a sound, highly respected business with sustainable income. The possibilities are limitless if you’re willing and able to put in the work to make it happen.
LifelineExtensions: Thank you for this excellent and down-to-earth interview, Lisa. Now I want all of LifelineExtensions.blog’s readers to have the contact information for Eventfully Yours in case they’d like to retain you to plan their next event:
Eventfully Yours
25 Brenner Street
Newark, New Jersey 07108
973-297-0909
Direct: 908-244-9000
Eventfullyyours1@aol.com
Lisa Richardson-Hall and Devvan Dowdy are the founders, owners and operators of Eventfully Yours, a New Jersey-based Event Coordination partnership. Lisa and Devvan are SAHMs who enjoy the flexibility built into their busy schedules as wives, mothers, and successful businesswomen. Lisa and her husband have two sons, and Devvan and her husband have two sons and one daughter.
Sharon M. Biggs, M.A.
Educational Leader
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